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Placement of the subject in a sentence

In a simple declarative sentence in German, the subject is often placed at the beginning of the sentence:

Subject     Conjugated verb      Object     
Sie   müssen   den Rhein   unbedingt sehen.

 

You can emphasize other information by placing it first instead. In that case, the subject comes after the conjugated verb:

Object   Conjugated Verb      Subject    
Den Rhein   müssen   Sie   unbedingt sehen.
Das    weiß   ich    nicht so genau.
             
Adverb   Conjugated Verb   Subject   Object
Heute   gibt   es   frische Brötchen.

 

For questions, the subject also follows the conjugated verb:

Question word     Conjugated Verb      Subject    Object
    Möchtest   du   einen Kaffee?
Wo   ist   Julia?    
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